Voyeur caught secretly filming women in toilets avoids jail

A Christmas theme park worker who used his smartphone to secretly film women in the toilets at the tourist attraction has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Dutchman Tim Bastiaans, 26, who was in the UK to work at Winter Wonderland in London's Hyde Park, hid in a neighbouring cubicle for at least 20 minutes, London's Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.

He was caught when one of his victims confronted him after spotting his smartphone near a gap on the floor on November 28.

Prosecutor Zahid Hussain told the court: "It seems he was there for at least 20 minutes waiting for unsuspecting females in the cubicles, waiting so that he could film them on his smartphone."

Bastiaans tried to flee but the woman and her friend managed to search him.

They seized his Dutch identity card and took photographs of him before alerting the police.

The woman, who said she was distressed and embarrassed by the filming, had originally thought it was her friend messing around only to find a man in the cubicle next door.

Bastiaans had already recorded one woman, who was oblivious to the hidden camera, by the time the second woman went in to use the toilet a short while later.

She spotted the smartphone, knocked on the door and discovered Bastiaans.

Bastiaans, who pleaded guilty to one charge of voyeurism and another of attempted voyeurism, was sentenced to 12 weeks jail for each offence to run concurrently. The sentence was suspended for two years.

Bastiaans was also ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and an £80 surcharge within three months.

A search of his web browsing history showed that "on one day alone he had viewed over 100 pornographic sites" that were related to voyeurism, Mr Hussain said.

Bastiaans, who helped people on the rides at Winter Wonderland, headed back to the Netherlands after sentencing.

He had shown remorse and was "extremely distressed" by the incident, Mr Hussain said.